What's the difference between aback and surprised?
Aback
Definition:
(adv.) Toward the back or rear; backward.
(adv.) Behind; in the rear.
(adv.) Backward against the mast; -- said of the sails when pressed by the wind.
(n.) An abacus.
Example Sentences:
(1) Sources said that when Mitchell toured the Commons tea rooms on Wednesday and Thursday, he was taken aback by the opposition to him staying put, despite Cameron's support.
(2) Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Our political leaders can’t bear to face the truth’: Camila Batmanghelidjh spoke to the Guardian’s Patrick Butler in July “So you can understand that I am taken aback by allegations which now present themselves, about which I knew nothing.” Kids Company, set up by the charismatic Batmanghelidjh in 1996, was known to have the firm support of David Cameron for its work on gang violence and disadvantaged children.
(3) "At first I was taken aback by how quickly this thing blew up."
(4) Everyone was taken aback by Harrison's generosity, not least Idle.
(5) In the summer of 2015, Corbyn himself was taken aback by the surge in support for his message.
(6) Gaskill, who had found the play abandoned on a shelf at the Royal Court and decided to stage it the moment he read it, was equally taken aback.
(7) The ferocity of the battle, once the results of the prime minister’s negotiations with his EU partners had been announced, has taken Downing Street aback.
(8) A father of four children in the Palisades, a wealthy neighborhood in west Los Angeles, was taken aback when he accompanied his 12-year-old son on a camping trip with scouts.
(9) Still, I'm taken aback by the immediate and vocal lack of enthusiasm for Steve Jobs's new product.
(10) Mallett said he had rebuffed the offer, which had come four years too late as far as he was concerned, but when it was put to Lancaster before England’s dead rubber against Uruguay he was immediately taken aback.
(11) For a few days, we were all really taken aback.” On Thursday, Dixons reported that its Greek arm, Kotsovolos , was seeing big-ticket items fly off the shelves.
(12) Labour seized on the ministerial disarray over the policy.Yvette Cooper, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "The government's unfair attack on child benefit is now unravelling ... they have clearly been taken aback by the reaction of parents across the country."
(13) Although the player has developed a thick skin, not least while he agitated for a move away from Anfield, he has been taken aback by the level of criticism that has been flung his way – particularly online – over Euro 2016 and apparently feels he has been made a scapegoat for England’s shortcomings at the tournament.
(14) For his part, Chu admits he was taken aback by his entry to Washington life.
(15) On Monday night, Lib Dem MPs were taken aback by the strength of opposition to a deal with Labour from within the Labour parliamentary party.
(16) They also told me hospitals around Aleppo and Idlib have had Red Cross symbols removed because they are becoming a target for the Russians.” Taken aback by what he was told by the group of rescue workers, trainees known as the white helmets, he continued: “We in Britain have been rightly challenged about Saudi Arabia in Yemen and why we maintain our confidence in the Saudis not breaching international law.
(17) "I think they were taken aback by how quickly the region – in which they have invested a lot of time and energy and diplomacy, and a lot of human and monetary resources – turned against them," said Jakobson.
(18) The other half would not have been remotely taken aback.
(19) Welfare groups told the Senate community affairs committee they were taken aback by how “harsh” the budget was and believed it would be more balanced.
(20) He was taken aback to have his application for benefits turned down.
Surprised
Definition:
(imp. & p. p.) of Surprise
Example Sentences:
(1) If Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, who bought the island in 1738, were to return today he would doubtless recognise the scene, though he might be surprised that his small private buildings have grown into a sizable hotel.
(2) Surprisingly, the clonal elimination of V beta 6+ cells is preceded by marked expansion of these cells.
(3) Given Australia’s number one position as the worst carbon emitter per capita among major western nations it seems hardly surprising that islanders from Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and other small island developing states have been turning to Australia with growing exasperation demanding the country demonstrate an appropriate response and responsibility.
(4) S&P – the only one of the three major agencies not to have stripped the UK of its coveted AAA status – said it had been surprised at the pick-up in activity during 2013 – a year that began with fears of a triple-dip recession.
(5) Why is it so surprising to people that a boy like Chol, just out of conflict, has thought through the needs of his country in such a detailed way?” While Beah’s zeal is laudable, the situation in South Sudan is dire .
(6) Diabetic retinopathy (an index of microangiopathy) and absence of peripheral pulses, amputation, or history of myocardial infarction, stroke, or transient ischemic attacks (as evidence of macroangiopathy) caused surprisingly little increase in relative risk for cardiovascular death.
(7) Just don’t be surprised if they ask you to repair their phones, too.
(8) One surprising finding is that the MAL1g-encoded maltose permease exhibits little sequence homology to the MAL1-encoded maltose permease though they appear to be functionally homologous.
(9) Surprisingly, however, despite the severe defect in viral DNA replication, the synthesis of a few species of viral late proteins continues in cells infected by some of the E1B mutants.
(10) Thus, during treatment with ethambutol visually (pattern) evoked potentials may reveal a surprisingly high percentage of subclinical optic neuritis.
(11) Somewhat surprisingly then, in view of the mechanisms in mammals, birds do not seem to use this seasonal message in the photoperiodic control of reproduction.
(12) Infants were habituated to models posing either prototypically positive displays (e.g., happy expressions) or positive expression blends (e.g., mock surprise).
(13) The BBA statistics director, David Dooks, said: "It was no surprise to see the January mortgage figures falling back from December, when transactions were being pushed through to beat the end of stamp duty relief.
(14) "We knew people would be interested in the announcement, but it's fair to say that the scale of the excitement, right across the world, took us all by surprise.
(15) When you have champions of financial rectitude such as the International Monetary Fund and OECD warning of the international risk of an "explosion of social unrest" and arguing for a new fiscal stimulus if growth continues to falter, it's hardly surprising that tensions in the cabinet over next month's spending review are spilling over.
(16) Myelodysplastic preleukemic syndromes (MDPS) and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) share a surprising in vivo sensitivity to the hormonally acting 13 cis or all trans retinoic acids (transRA).
(17) Apple has come out fighting, which is no surprise given the remarkable success that the company has seen in recent years.
(18) His words surprised some because of an impression that the US was unwilling to talk about these issues.
(19) A teaching union has questioned appointment of a trustee of Britain's largest academy chain group as chairman of the schools regulator Ofsted , in what was a surprise announcement meant to calm some of the internal conflicts within the coalition.
(20) Given that a post-poll economy still registers as a crucial issue among undecided voters, and that matters economic are now his BBC day job, that was hardly surprising.